I was
watching Hemingway and Gellhorn. Outstanding performance by Clive Owen and
Nicole Kidman. Trust me this won’t be a movie review. But while watching the
movie I was motivated to write. I mean my hands were itching, my brain was
moving a mile a minute about my books!
Watching the movie, I felt so compelled. What if Hemingway
were my mentor?
First, I might
be a bit scared. If Owen portrayed Hemingway to the exact T (and thumbs up
because I know he did!), I would be scared out of my mind. Then, that sacredness
would wash away and my heart would be beating. I was pumped up during his rant
to Gellhorn about writing, at the semi-beginning of the movie. Just as I am
now.
First rule Hemingway gave was to “sit down at your
typewriter and bleed”. If you really work with these words and want to be a
writer then you know that you have to give writing your all; through the pain
and the joy of writing about characters.
Secondly, he said writing is a sport. “Get in the
ring….start throwing punches for what you believe in.” Writers must have some
type of faith base. A belief system that allows authors to get those creative
juices flowing. Remember, my site is about ‘books that you can take to bed’. As
I strive to read and write these
books I need a mentality for believing in these books. While reading a book, if
I don’t feel it, then to be honest, I will stop. Or writing, if I don’t believe
what I’m writing, I’m doing myself a injustice. I will have just wasted months
out of my life. Who wants to read a book where they don’t feel the author has
made an investment? Where the reader is uncertain if the author really knows
what he or she is talking about? I have to “get in the ring,” metaphorically. Throw
punches. I’ll call Microsoft Word my punching bag, and I don’t mean that in an
abusive way. I love Microsoft Word it makes my life easy. Sure it tells me when
I can’t spell something and I know I’m not the best at grammar—which you can
see now, if you are. But, what I mean
is, I have to give it my all as I type/ ‘bleed’, if you get my drift.
Lastly, Owen as Hemingway said, “The best writers
are liars,” and I was nodding my head while he did. That is so true. I’ve taken
his pushy words and his bossiness toward Gellhorn and used it as a grain
of inspiration for today.
My question is: what pushes you?
